The 1940 Communist National Convention was held May 30–June 2, 1940, in New York City . It saw Communist Party USA nominate Earl Browder for president and James W. Ford for vice president in the 1940 United States presidential election . The convention was held May 30–June 2 in New York City . [ 1 ] The convention had 2,200 delegates. The closing session of the convention was held at Madison Square Garden , with The Daily Worker advertising a crowd of 20,000 in attendance. [ 2 ] The convention unanimously nominated Earl Browder for president and James W. Ford for vice president. [ 2 ] This was the same ticket that the party had nominated in the previous presidential election. [ 3 ] After the August 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union , the party had taken a hard pivot in its position on incumbent president Franklin Delano Roosevelt 's policy of sending aid to European nations fighting against Nazi Germany. Previously supportive of this policy, the party had pivoted to heavily opposing it and organizing against it. It was on this ground that the party opposed Roosevelt's re-election in 1940. [ 4 ] At the convention, the party adopted a platform which condemned Roosevelt's foreign policy stance. Browder described the party platform's immediate goal as being, "fight to keep America out of the war...fight against all policies which call for great armaments." Browder further wrote, The most immediate menace of war for America is the call for moral support to the British and French empires...the already-deep economic involvement which combine to push and pull the American people, against their will, into belligerent support. Therefore the people's platform must declare to both imperialist camps, German and Allied , "A plague on both your houses!"...It must declare to the whole world, so that there shall be no encouragement of false hopes, that "The Yanks are not coming. [ 5 ] The party's abandonment of antifascism made it a social pariah on the American left , with many liberals ceasing to cooperate with it in the advancement of common causes. [ 4 ] ↑ "Call For New York State Nominating Convention of the Communist Party" . New York City: The Daily Worker. April 9, 1940. p. 4 . Retrieved June 2, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. 1 2 "20,000 Cheer Nomination of Browder and Ford at Garden Rally" . New York City: The Daily Worker. June 4, 1940 . Retrieved June 2, 2026 – via Newspapers.com. ↑ "Browder Heads Communist Slate; James W. Ford, Negro Leader in Harlem, Is Nominated for Vice President. 25,000 JAM THE GARDEN 8-Point Platform Demands 'Decent' Social Standards -- Landon's Defeat Urged" . The New York Times . June 29, 1936 . Retrieved June 1, 2026 . 1 2 "Communist Party, United States of America" . Encyclopedia.com . Retrieved June 2, 2026 . ↑ Browder, Earl (1940). "Election Platform of the Communist Party of the U.S.A., 1940; Basic Political Outline For The Platform" (PDF) . Marxists.org . Retrieved June 2, 2026 . Keynotes 1984 2004 Speeches by spouses of nominees Cross of Gold speech "The Dream Shall Never Die" 2016 Kahn speech 1952 TV broadcasts 2008 host committee foiled plot to assassinate Barack Obama foiled plot to assassinate Barack Obama 2020 ceremonial roll call ceremonial roll call 1968 "The whole world is watching" McGovern–Fraser Commission Chicago Seven "The whole world is watching" McGovern–Fraser Commission 2024 war protests Speeches by spouses of nominees 1988 presidential acceptance "Read my lips: no new taxes" "Thousand points of light" "Read my lips: no new taxes" "Thousand points of light" 2012 Clint Eastwood speech 1952 TV broadcasts 2020 cancelled Jacksonville plans Schedule cancelled Jacksonville plans 1984 Texas v. Johnson Texas v. Johnson 2008 Better This World Unconvention The After Party Better This World The After Party "The twin relics of barbarism" Delegates Unbound List of conventions Balloon drops Treb Heining Brokered convention dark horse smoke-filled room smoke-filled room Keynote speakers National Special Security Event California state party 2008 2012 2016 2020 People's Party 1972 1975 California state party 1984 1988 1992 1996 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024 PSL 2007 2016 2019 Workers World 2004 2008 2012 2016 Anti-Imperialist League 1900 Anti-Monopoly 1884 America First 1944 Citizens 1980 1984 Equal Rights Party 1872 1884 1888 Independence 1908 Labor Reform 1872 National Democratic 1896 National Liberty Party 1904 National Prohibition 1896 National States' Rights 1956 1960 New Alliance 1988 1992 Radical Abolitionist 1860 Social Democratic 1900 Straight-Out Democratic 1872 Silver Party 1896 Silver Republican 1900 Union Labor 1888 United Labor 1888 Objectivist Party 2012 Tyler Party 1844 Union Reform 1900 Union Whig 1852 Woman suffragists 1892 President: Franklin D. Roosevelt (incumbent) Vice President: Henry A. Wallace John Nance Garner Millard Tydings President: Wendell Willkie Vice President: Charles L. McNary Arthur Vandenberg Nominee: Earl Browder VP nominee: James W. Ford Nominee: Roger Babson

Nominee: Norman Thomas VP nominee: Maynard C. Krueger Nominee: John W. Aiken VP nominee: Aaron M. Orange William Z. Foster ( 1924 ; 1928 ; 1932 ) Earl Browder ( 1936 ; 1940 ) Charlene Mitchell ( 1968 ) Gus Hall ( 1972 ; 1976 ; 1980 ; 1984 ) Benjamin Gitlow ( 1924 ; 1928 ) James W. Ford ( 1932 ; 1936 ; 1940 ) Mike Zagarell ( 1968 ) Jarvis Tyner ( 1972 ; 1976 ) Angela Davis ( 1980 ; 1984 ) C. E. Ruthenberg (1919–1920; 1922–1927) Alfred Wagenknecht (1919–1921) Charles Dirba (1920–1921) Louis Shapiro (late 1920) L. E. Katterfeld (1921) William Weinstone (1921–1922) Jay Lovestone (1922; 1927–1929) James P. Cannon (1921–1922) Caleb Harrison (1921–1922) Abram Jakira (1922–1923) William Z. Foster (1929–1934) Earl Browder (1934–1945) Eugene Dennis (1945–1959) William Z. Foster (1945–1957) Gus Hall (1959–2000) Sam Webb (2000–2014) John Bachtell (2014–2019) Rossana Cambron & Joe Sims (2019–present) William Albertson Herbert Aptheker Walter Bernstein Marc Blitzstein Ella Reeve Bloor Peter Cacchione Benjamin J. Davis Jr. Shirley Graham Du Bois Elizabeth Gurley Flynn Dorothy Ray Healey Manning Johnson Oakley C. Johnson Antoinette Konikow Claude Lightfoot Karl Emil Nygard William L. Patterson William J. Pennock Charles E. Taylor Albertson v. Subversive Activities Control Board Aptheker v. Secretary of State Communist Party v. Subversive Activities Control Board De Jonge v. Oregon Dennis v. United States Keyishian v. Board of Regents Noto v. United States Scales v. United States Smith Act trials Watkins v. United States Yates v. United States American Committee for Spanish Freedom Bill of Rights socialism Communist Labor Party English-language press International Publishers Language federation Left Wing Section of the Socialist Party Lincoln Battalion List of Communist Party USA members who have held office in the United States National conventions 1922 Bridgman Convention 1922 Bridgman Convention New York Workers School Non-English press Red diaper baby San Francisco Workers' School Soviet Negro Republic Relations with African Americans Yokinen Show Trial Young Communist League USA Young Pioneers of America National conventions of the Communist Party USA 1940 conferences 1940 in New York City United States presidential nominating conventions in New York City 1940 United States presidential nominating conventions